Sickness Strikes Again

It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I was complaining about a slight cold that I had. Maybe because it was only a few weeks ago. A week after recovery, I got slammed with a second, much worse cold that left me unable to breathe out of my nose for 3 full days. When I say “unable to breathe”, I mean not one puff of air was making it through either nostril. The post-nasal drip force me to sleep on 3 pillows for a week and a half. My overall miserableness did end after it followed the typical course the common cold takes. Days 1 and 2 are usually a sore throat followed by stuffiness, runny nose, and coughing on days 3 and 4, which are typically the worst days and are what drive people to the doctor. Knowing this information about the cold, on day 4 when I still couldn’t breathe, I was tempted to go to the doctor’s. I decided to wait and see if day 5 brought any improvement, and sure enough it did. My body fought that cold all on its own. I spent one glorious night sleeping on only 1 pillow before the stomach virus hit.

On Friday evening, I was rejoicing in successfully making some ice cream with my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment. (My first couple of batches were not very good.) After I had my celebratory bowl, I immediately didn’t feel all that well. I went to sleep soon after thinking that I would be fine when I woke up in the morning. I must disclose that my stomach churns just thinking about that ice cream. Without going into any gory details, Saturday was spent in bed. I was unable to move due to nausea, body aches, and fatigue. Fortunately, I was on the road to recovery when Gavin started coughing from his allergies at 3am Sunday morning. Steve took care of him and about 5 minutes after Gavin was back in his crib, the stomach virus had hit Steve full force. Steve spent all day Sunday in bed feeling my agony from the day before.

It’s now Day 3 of the virus, and I still haven’t fully recovered. I’m still nauseous after eating and can’t really think about much more than toast, rice, and pretzels. Needless to say, I haven’t been watching the Food Network. I’ve also thrown out everything that I had for dinner the night before I got sick. That ice cream is going too, as soon as I can stand to look at it. Of course, I did go to work. Hopefully for all of my co-workers’ sakes, I’m no longer contagious. On a brighter note, Gavin hasn’t shown any signs of the virus. Let’s hope it missed him.

One more important component of this weekend to share is how great my dog is. Rusty laid in bed with me all day Saturday. Every time I woke up, he was there. On Sunday, he stayed in bed all day with Steve. Rusty is not a lazy dog. His favorite activity is chasing a tennis ball from our family room to our dining room. His second favorite activity is going outside. While his third favorite thing to do is going to bed, I think that he stayed with us because he knew that we needed a little comfort. It was nice waking up and reaching over to feel that little fluff ball (he needs to be groomed) cuddled up against my leg. I couldn’t ask for a better pet.

Let’s hope that I am now back to my usual healthy self, and we can chalk up March and April 2010 as a fluke in my immune system.